“Think about eco-poetics as not just a focus on degraded soil, air, and water, but vibrational absence. When a species leaves the planet, they take everything with them. Their heartbeat, their flutter, their footfalls, their hooves. In the past 50 years, the planet has seen a 60% loss of all the wildlife. We’ve recently found out that we’ve lost 50% of the coral reefs in that time. Europe has lost 75% of its flying insects. I immediately started making rituals to create a place of extreme present. That’s the purpose of what I do. And, when I am doing these rituals — translate into all art forms.

Each morning a blue jay screams at the edge of the clear cut forest
I scream with her at the bleeding stumps
Scream inside something borrowed like ocean, like skin
I want to see before I die a mink wearing a human scarf…”

– CA Conrad

CA Conrad is the author of 9 books of poetry and essays. While Standing in Line for Death (Wave Books), received the 2018 Lambda Award. A recipient of a Pew Fellowship in the Arts, they also received The Believer Magazine Book Award and The Gil Ott Book Award. Their work has been translated into Spanish, Greek, Polish, Norwegian, Portuguese, Danish and German. They teach regularly at Columbia University in NYC, and Sandberg Art Institute in Amsterdam, and their books, films, essays, rituals and other publications can be found online.